So far this year, the No. 1 target of hate crimes in Montreal has been the Jewish community, receiving death threats online and swastikas on school buildings.

Last year it was Muslims.

But while the target may fluctuate, the overall numbers have remained steady over the last two years, says the head of the Montreal Police Hate Crimes Unit, with disturbing peaks after high-profile incidents like the Quebec City Mosque shooting and the Oct. 27 massacre at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

The one bright spot on the horizon is that as perpetrators of hate crimes are arrested and make their way through the courts, some, at least, are having to face justice — and even jail time.

“I don’t think the nature of the crimes has changed as much as the interpretation in the courts,” said Montreal Police Commander Carolyn Cournoyer. “There are several people working on this issue, the police, then the prosecutors and the judges who hand down decisions. There have not been many convictions for inciting hatred, but this year we’ve had success with people found guilty for what they’ve said, so we can go further with the jurisprudence now and say we can take this to court.”

From Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, 2018, the Montreal police tallied 172 hate crimes in Montreal, compared to 250 in all of 2017 (19 per month compared to 21 per month). While 56 were said to be motivated by the victim’s ethnic origin — a conclusion based largely on what was said during the crime — 71 crimes were motivated by the victim’s religion: 36 against Jews, 33 against Muslims.

Another 14 people were victims because of their sexual orientation and 31 for other motives (physical handicap, language or social status.) Then there are all the hate “incidents” — that don’t meet the legal definition of a crime — and all the crimes that weren’t reported.

Out of the 172 cases, 27 investigations are still active, and 74 were “completed but not resolved”, most often because the perpetrator could not be identified, Cournoyer said.

“For example, people are pushed or someone tries to grab at their hijab or kippah on the bus or on the métro. It’s assault or armed assault, but we can’t identify the person,” Cournoyer said.

But in those 172 cases, 40 people were arrested and charged, Cournoyer continued, most of them with uttering threats and incitement to hatred (75 per cent of these cases were crimes against the person, 25 per cent against property).

Line Lemay, one of two lieutenant detectives on the hate crimes unit, says it’s in the courts, in four particular cases, that she now finds hope and encouragement.

In March, a 24-year-old Gatineau man, Alexandre Chebeir, was found guilty of criminal harassment of two organizations for comments he posted on their websites.

The first group, the Réseau québécois en études féministes (The Quebec Network for Feminist Studies), received comments in July 2016 with links to an article about Marc Lépine, the man who killed 14 women at the École Polytechnique in 1989 in the worst mass shooting in Canadian history.

Chebeir signed the comment with the hashtag “#JeSuisMarc.”

The second group, Sans oui, c’est non, an online campaign against sexual violence, in October 2016 also received a photo of Lépine, along with messages that read: “One day you will pay for all the harm you have brought on men. We will avenge O Marc Lépine…” Chebeir also sent private messages to the administrator of the group.

After administrators of both groups told the judge of their fear and anxiety, even months after the incident, Chebeir was sentenced to three months and 20 days of jail, followed by three years probation.

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A second success was the Montreal Police’s ability to issue an arrest warrant in June 2017 for a Jordanian Imam, Moh’d Moussa Hussein Nasr, who, while in Montreal, incited his followers to kill Jews. Unfortunately he had already returned to Jordan.

There was the conviction of a man who uttered threats online against gays and lesbians in Mali. It was brought to the attention of the Montreal police by someone in France.

Then there was the case where the hate crimes unit was notified about 51-year-old Claude Fiorini, who was allegedly inciting hatred toward Muslims. He wasn’t charged with hate crimes, but after a search of his residence, he was convicted of improperly storing a firearm, and the firearm was destroyed by order of the court.

“This is jurisprudence that can help us,” Lemay said. “To say someone can lose the right to keep firearms because of what they’ve said.”

Fiorini received an absolute discharge and the imam was never arrested. But it’s the message that counts, Lemay said, when it comes to crimes that affect whole communities, and their sense of security in Montreal.

“The sentence is not always severe. And these are decisions made in Quebec Court. They did not go higher. But they made jurisprudence that gives us teeth.”

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